In which David Swan Once Again Reaches for the Pot of Boiling Water

I?m not trying to attack anyone or their choice in collectables. I?m a life long comic fan. Comic fans are my people. I dream of someday going to the San Diego Comic Con but I?ve been around long enough to see when a collectable market is way out of kilter and something is not right here.

Perhaps my favorite comic growing up was Judge Dredd but I didn?t express my love for the series by collecting sealed issues and storing them away. I have them all in a box and I occasionally pull them out to read them. I?m quite sure that the Marvel ?true believers? who buy recent issues CGC graded are not doing this as an alternative to the stock market but I think it would be na?ve to think that most collectors aren?t under the belief that their collections will at the very least maintain their value.

Let?s say you?re one of the 246 registered collectors of Ultimate Spiderman and you just finished collecting all 211 (or some odd) issues all graded 9.8 or better with every annual and cover variant. Happy Days. A job well done. So what do you have for your efforts? For starters less money than you would have had if you had not engaged in this task but that?s true of almost any collection. You also have 5+ long boxes of comics and plastic just for Ultimate Spiderman alone. You probably also have the issues in raw form which means at least one more long box. You could encase a wall 8.7 feet high and 18 feet wide in CGC Ulitmate Spideman comics so unless you have an UNBELIEVABLY accepting spouse or you?re single, displaying the set is likely out of the question. The most probable place they will exist is in a closet or attic. At some point you?re likely to find that your significant other starts to complain about the volume of storage spaced used by your collection and my God if you move to a new house or *shudder* move to a new city. Ultimate Spiderman has now become something in your life that must be factored into many major decisions; the amount of storage space your house has and maybe even the distance you might move.

The likely end result is someday you will decide, with sadness, that you must part with your collection of Ultimate Spiderman and now discover that because a zillion collectors encased them or protected them in mylar sleeves and collectors have lost interest in Ultimate Spiderman having moved on to other latest and greatest comics Ultimate Spiderman has supply that now greatly exceeds demand and you can?t even give away the 200 (or whatever) pounds of comic and plastic you?ve labored to attain. The final result may very well be that the comic series which you loved so much becomes a gnawing sore spot. Something you?d prefer to forget. If I decided to get rid of my Judge Dredd comics (God no) it would be no big deal. I spent cover price for them and they are probably worth less now than what I paid but what I got was enjoyment.

I don?t expect people to collect the comics I collect and if a ton of people did I?d collect something else. My belief in CGC is as a means of preserving comics that are historically significant and I don?t think CGC will ever go out of business because of a lack of those. What Tnerb did with New Mutants was an amazing service to collectors. He did far more than gather most of the highest quality issues in one place he posted wonderful images and included detailed comments for each one so that other fans can enjoy. I applaud him. But it?s an achievement like juggling flaming scimitars. It?s amazing if one or two people does it but when everyone in town is juggling flaming scimitars it?s just ridiculous.